Cockfighting is an illegal sport in the US in which two specially bred roosters fight to the death. In the state of California, the offence is merely a misdemeanour, while a second offence carries a felony.

The fowl play of Ochoa's death comes in the wake of another freak cock accident in India last month when a man had his throat slashed by his own fighting rooster.

Clearly, messing around irresponsibly with another man's cock, or indeed your own cock, can have dire consequences. On the upside, it does give excellent opportunity for writing stories peppered with obvious double entendres and the occasional lousy pun.

A Bengali man has reportedly suffered a gruesome demise after he pushed his metal-enhanced cock that bit too far.

Singrai Soren, a trainer of fighting roosters, was killed in Mohanpur in West Bengal after one of his birds apparently turned on him, the Daily Mail soberly relates.

According to a friend, Soren forced the cockerel - whose legs were tooled up with razor blades - back into the ring to fight as it repeatedly tried to get away.

"This upset it, and it attacked Soren," said the friend.

The man's throat was slit in the struggle. The whereabouts of the killer cock are unknown, but it is thought that another trainer has bagged it. The bird had won four fights prior to its deadly attack.

Police are looking for the black and red feathered beast.

A lesson for all, we can surely agree, who are too pushy with birds. All further puns, moral outrage etc to the usual address.